Fall Has Sprung! contradance May 3, 2013

I had a blast calling at the “Fall Has Sprung” contra dance fest in Grass Valley, California.  Held every year in early November, this dance runs 12 hours long, from noon till midnight!

There’s potluck food and comfy bleacher chairs available the entire time, so participants can dance some, have a snack or meal, rest, dance more, go outside and schmooze a bit, do a community chore like taking out some garbage, drink some water, then dance a whole lot more.  Dance, rinse, repeat.

It is a super fun event that I’ve enjoyed going to several times as a dancer, and it was an honor and a delight to be invited to call for it this year.

What a luscious combo: calling 1/3 of the day with amazing bands, and getting to dance the other 2/3 to other amazing bands and great callers, for and with a hall full of zesty dancers.

This year, the bands were Hot Cider, KGB, and Raz de Marée, a.k.a. Tidal Wave, and the callers were Joyce Miller, Frannie Marr, and me.  Many thanks to the Foothills Country Dance Society and their stellar organizers, Eric Engels and Lisa Frankel.

This particular dance you’ll see in the video is “Square Affair” by Becky Hill. It is driven by music played by KGB, a  fabulous Seattle band consisting of Julie King, Claude Ginsburg and Dave Bartley. I found them to be not only breathtakingly good musicians, but also super easy to work with.

Video by dancer John Seto.   Music by KGB.   Calling by Tina Fields.

Perpetual e-Motion contras January 3, 2013

If you love wild contra dancing, the Front Range of Colorado is the place to be this weekend. Perpetual eMotion will play Fri, Sat and Sunday. They are two guys who sound like many more, fusing old traditional tunes with electronic techno looping. Their music makes for dancing that is both rocking and super trance inducing.

I’m calling with them on Friday eve at Boulder’s fabulous Avalon Ballroom – and per the dance organizer’s request, I’ll have my disco ball in tow.

The dance runs 8-11 pm, with a beginner’s lesson/semi-beginners’ refresher course at 7. (If you’ve not contradanced much or at all, do come: you can learn the basic moves in that time and have a great evening. But please make sure to attend the lesson. It’s tough for everyone if you just try to jump in without it. Thanks!)

Two of my favorite callers in the area will call the other dances: Ed Hall in Fort Collins on Saturday, and Rick Smith in Denver on Sunday – and that one will also have ice cream. How good does it get? Hope to see you rollicking out at one or more!

Weird animal news: shark falls on golf course October 27, 2012

Leopard Shark

And in today’s weird news… an osprey protest?

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO, Calif. (AP) – “Nobody yelled “Fore!” at a Southern California golf course when a 2-foot-long shark dropped out of the sky and flopped around on the 12th tee.”

The 2-pound leopard shark was apparently plucked from the ocean by a bird then dropped on San Juan Hills Golf Club, said Melissa McCormack, director of club operations.

“Down with golf courses! Bring back the wetlands!” the osprey was heard to think. (Okay, no, I made that part up.)

Still, can you imagine being there? Talk about a golf hazard!

This incident reminds me of the wonderful collection of weird phenomena collected by Charles Fort. His books, compiled in the early 20th century, center on exhaustively documented ‘puzzling evidence.’  These run the gamut from events of Biblical proportion like sudden plagues of locusts or rains of blood, and what would today be called UFO phenomena, to small surrealistic moments like this one.

The best part of this story is that the golf course workers managed to save the little shark’s life! One noticed it and took it to their office, where they quickly stuck it in a bucketful of water. Then they suddenly remembered, hey, this is a SALT water creature. So they mixed in some table salt (!) and transported the shark to the ocean. He initially just sat there, stunned, but then flipped his fin and swam off.

Read more from ABC.com:  Shark Falls From Sky Onto California Golf Course

*

P.S.: There are many kinds of sharks. The one we usually think of, thanks to the movie Jaws, is the Great White shark (pictured grinning below). Leopard sharks (pictured above) are much smaller and sleeker in design, and their skin features cute spots.

Another big difference is that leopard sharks have not acquired a taste for human flesh. However, just to set the record straight, given the choice, Great Whites will overwhelmingly choose other fare too. Apparently, we just aren’t the choicest dish in the sea. (I don’t know about you, but knowing this brings me a combo of relief and petulant wondering why not.)

Happy Birthday, Tom Lehrer April 10, 2012

  This post is a celebration of irreverent creativity.

Harvard mathematician Tom Lehrer had the chutzpah to make a song out of every tabu subject you can think of: the arms race leading to death by atomic bomb (“We Will All Go Together When We Go”), BDSM sex (“The Masochist Tango”), the Catholic church (“The Vatican Rag”), racism (“National Brotherhood Week”), Nazi scientists (“Wernher von Braun”), the Boy Scouts (“Be Prepared”), herpes (“I Got It From Agnes”), and the composition that must win the Nerd’s World Cup hands-down,  the Periodic Table of Elements set to music.

Tom Lehrer’s music became quite popular during the 1950s, but by 1965 he stopped performing because he allegedly grew bored of singing the same songs again and again.

Singing two of former the good doctor’s songs at a high school assembly got me, an honor student, sent to the Principal’s office and put on probation. This had the opposite effect of what the administration likely hoped.

I love his smart, irreverent humor still. If you aren’t yet familiar with it, I’m very pleased to be the person who’s about to ruin you. (Grateful thank-yous involving chocolate or bad puns always accepted.)

Happy 84th birthday, Prof. Dr. Lehrer.*

And thank you.

Click on the following links for videos or audios of TL performing:

Poisoning Pigeons in the Park

Masochism Tango

I Hold Your Hand In Mine

Be Prepared

We Will All Go Together When We Go

The Vatican Rag

Here are a bunch more lyrics.

NOTES:

1) *His dual career was surely fated: Lehrer means “teacher” in German.

2) I have no idea why WordPress won’t let the links appear as embedded videos. I’ve scoured the forums and done everything they suggested, but no luck. I guess I’m still a technopeasant. Or perhaps Coyote is in charge of the cybergods. WordPress gurus, consider this the Bat Signal for help! Sigh.

3) Thank you to the fabulous Julie James for making me aware of this most auspicious day.

Happy Eostre! April 3, 2012

Easter, according to De Ratione Temporum by the Christian scholar known as “the venerable Bede” (672-735 C.E.), was named after Eostre, the Teutonic dawn goddess of fertility – in other words, the spiritual embodiment of Spring.

The Teutons lived in what now is central Europe – Germany, Austria and the like. The word for Easter in modern German is Ostern, which likely stems from Ost, meaning “East.” The sun rises in the east, and of course we in the Northern hemisphere, particularly places that have recently experienced long and bitter snows, are all celebrating the sun’s return as winter passes and the days grow longer and warmer.

This is the heart of the death and resurrection story later grafted onto the holy man Jesus – the return of life to soil, plants, birds, bugs, plants, animals, and us all. Young animals are born, their mothers’ milk flows, and from the bare branches of winter, sweet-smelling flowers and life-giving fruit now return. For one more year, we know now we will likely live.

Plus now we also get chocolate bunnies.

May your own season of rebirth go much more easily!

***

(Image Note: I don’t know who drew this great bunny cartoon. If you do, please tell me and I’ll be delighted to give credit.)

In 30 Years April 1, 2012

In this morning’s paper, financial advisor Jean Chatzky suggested planning for the distant future. To inspire yourself to save for that day, you can generate an image of yrself as much older.

*

*

The current photo is the little one in the corner.  I had to go 30 years in future AND imagine I was a drug addict to get this aged.  Projecting 20 yrs into the future, or 30 yrs while healthy, didn’t look all that different from now.  :-0    This image seems somewhat realistic, but I actually think my hair will be all white. And I only hope I’m that thin. (An option where the drug of choice is Swiss chocolate with hazelnuts wasn’t offered.)

It’s fun to think intergenerationally about yourself!  The change from being a newborn to a strapping adult and then, if we’re lucky, to an elder, is so common we don’t really notice it but when we really think about it, it’s breathtaking. Caterpillars change into butterflies quickly, but every being on this planet also dramatically transforms. Even mountains turn into canyons eventually and boulders grind down to pebbles; ocean floors rise to become mountainsides as the continents shift; sunny meadows eventually become thick old forests as species succeed one another in a given area. Panta Rei, as Heraclitis said – everything changes. It’s just a question of time scale.

For the full range, here’s an image of myself a number of years back – age 3, happy with an animal and a stack of books. Nothing important has changed! Maybe it never will.

*

*

To try prematurely aging yourself, go to in20years.com.  If you’re appalled by the idea of aging thusly, remember what the old folks say: it sure beats the alternative.

I’ve been working on moving my elderly dad and his wife out here to Colorado, where I now live. Although in their 90s, they have been living on their own until now and remain vibrant and full of excitement about this new adventure. Thinking of the enormous changes they’ve seen over the years, and how they and their lives have changed many times, can confer some equanimity for our own futures.

I sincerely hope to see you all 30 years hence in realtime. We can show what happened to our tattoos.

Science Fiction Holidaze January 16, 2012

This post is for you lovers of science fiction and mythopoetic fantasy literature. As one myself, these made me laugh.

1)  When I first saw this sign, I thought it was a clever joke – but no.  Klingons kicked Stormtrooper butt in this ultimate nerd showdown held for a good cause in Portland, Oregon on New Year’s.

“New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day are not holidays people typically think of to give blood,” said Steve Stegeman, CEO of the American Red Cross Pacific Northwest Blood Services Region. “We have to get a little bit creative.”

You can read more about it in the Oregonian.  I just can’t help but wonder what blood type each of them are…

*

2)  Then there are the Xmas ornaments.

My dear friend Burnie, who taught science fiction and fantasy to two generations of brilliant misfits in her high school English classes, has collected Hallmark’s Star Trek ornaments for years. Some of them light up; others even talk. She is amazed to realize that this goofy collection has so increased in value that it may well now form the bulk of her childrens’ inheritance.

*

Here she is, in a photo taken a few years ago by her porch with me and another close friend.

*

This cool retro rocket ship night-light is what I gave her this year. The red liquid inside contains glitter that roils around when it heats up from the light. Sometimes a person needs a booster rocket to get to the proper dreamland.

*

Star Trek is one thing; Lovecraft would be quite another. Would you open a present found under a tree with this on it?

Ornament made by Etsy seller Michelle Scrimpsher

*

3)  Although the holiday season can bring great joy, you might be surprised by the number of folks who feel relief that it is now past.

*

Happy January!